good thursday morning. coming up on "early today," cheers and jeers. proponents of same-sex marriage celebrate the supreme court's rulings. but with only 30% of states recognizing same-sex marriage, the battle has just begun. life and death, texas executes its 500th prisoner while governor rick perry calls the legislature back to pass strictions on abortion. a huge day, a major witness at the george zimmerman murder trial. plus, how the fallout in the paula deen trial is now affecting a solar chef. a solar threat that could pose a year-long blackout. and dogs and cats living together. what could possibly be next? "early today" starts right now. >> announcer: this is "early today" for thursday, june 27th.

good morning. i'm richard louis. we begin with the supreme court and two major rulings that will be felt for decades as justices hand two major victories to same-sex couples. celebrations popped up around the country wednesday, justices giving federal recognition to same-sex couples and lifting a ban on gay marriage in california. today's newspapers called the decision historic, but it falls short of going nationwide. with the rulings 12 states and washington, d.c. now allow for same-sex marriage. proponents say their next step is nation bide recognition while opponents vow to fight on. pete williams has more. >> reporter: gay rights supporters crowded outside the court. cheering the historic decisions. first, a ruling striking down a law passed by congress in 1996. the defensive marriage act, known as dome that.

>> doma is dead! >> reporter: that law blocked the federal government from recognizing same-sex marriages in the states ahow them, depriving those couples of more than 1,000 benefits that married couples have. in a 5-4 ruling written by justice kennedy, the court said doma serves no purpose and demeans those in a lawful same-sex marriage. declaring their marriages less worthy and humiliated tens of thousands of children raised by same-sex couples. in the second 5-4 decision, this time by chief justice roberts, the court passed out an appeal of california's proposition 8. passed by voters in 2008. it had stopped same-sex marriages in the state. the court says the people who put prop 8 on the ballot had no legal authority to appeal after a lower court struck it down as unconstitutional. for the two california couples who challenged the law, that's the answer they wanted. >> now, we will be married and we will be equal to every other family in california. >> reporter: a short time later, their interview on msnbc was interrupted by a call from the president on air force one.

>> we thank you so much for your support. >> i'm very proud of you. you know, through your courage you're helping out a lot of people everywhere. >> reporter: opponents of same-sex marriage took some comfort in the ruling. >> i am pleased that the court did not create out of thin air a constitutional rights same-sex marriage and this debate will go on. >> that's nbc's pete williams reporting. one of the most-anticipated witnesses in the george zimmerman murder trial, the last person to speak to him alive. and the defense challenging her testimony about what happened the night trayvon martin was killed. >> reporter: richard, goo morning. this young could be the state's most important witness. she was on the phone with trayvon martin when the deadly confrontation began. the defense is pushing back,

trying to portray her as inconsistent. >> you've got to snnd what i'm trying to hell you. >> reporter: she nearly teared up on the stand. she's testified she was on the phone with martin when he told her a man was following them. she heard a confrontation. >> i heard him saying, get off, get off. >> then what'd you hear? >> suddenly the phone broke up. shut off. >> reporter: this morning she'll be back in court. the defense will pick up where they left off pointing out what they believe are inconsistencies in her statements. >> you're saying that you rushed through it and you didn't think about it carefully enough to be sure that you told it accurately. >> yes. >> reporter: two witnesses who lived in the neighborhood have also testified that george zimmerman, not martin, appeared to be the aggressor. one described the yells for help. >> i really felt it was a boy's voice. >> i really think it was

zimmerman. >> reporter: both times the defense pushed back. zimmerman pleaded not guilty to second degree murder. ultimately the jury will have to decide. two people we haven't heard there are trayvon martin's parents. the state could use them to help establish who could be heard calling for help on the 911 call that night. a vote could come as soon as today in the largest overall of immigration laws in decades. the full senate could take up the legislation this morning including a pathway to citizenship for an estimated 11 million undocumented immigrants currently living in the united states. it cleared a key test monday after provisions were added to increase border agents and build 700 miles of fence. house speaker john boehner saying he has no plans to hold a vote on the senate legislation. paula deen's empire continues crumbling.

after her admission of using a racial slur in the past. just just hours after an emotionally charged tod ed inten the today show, mall wart, home depot and caesar's dropped the celebrity chef. dean told matt lauer, she has only used that "n" word one time. >> other than that one time, in a bank robbery, you're telling me you have never used the "n" word? >> never. they asked me in all of my 66 years on earth. >> but then a contradiction. >> so reports that you were asked in that deposition whether you had used the "n" word on other occasions and said, probably, or of course, are inaccurate? >> no. i answered the question truthfully. >> one bright spot, deen's book "new testament," is now number one on amazon. another celebrity chef says deen

just not happy with her, when the food network dropped deen, they replaced her shows with delaurentis. that's when delaurentis received backlash on twit and facebook. dylan dreyer is here with the weather. hot, hot, hot. >> and more hot. it is brutally hot. for areas that are used to the heat but even there, officials are warning residents to stay indoors. take precautions for the heat. we do have a couple of showers in the northwest. although those should taper off as we go through the day. seattle seeing some of that rain. and we will see manufacture those showers in northwestern oregon, continue to lift off to the north and west. here is that excessive heat. we have heat warnings in effect across southern california into southern nevada and southwestern arizona. you can see record high temperatures or at least close to record high temps in las vegas. the all-time record high is 117 degrees. we are getting a little close for comfort that way. we are looking at death valley to hit 119 degrees.

we are looking at 125, 125 degrees by the time we get to the weekend. so it is brutal out there 108 degrees. lots of sun in tucson. you're from california. you're not into any of the heat areas but that is brutal in the southwest. >> you want to be in the chilly 70s. normally 70s, we'll take between or 12 of those. rumors swirl about the condition of ailing nelson mandela. live to south africa next. the dea agent who paid the ultimate price is honored. could a solar flare send the earth back to the 19th century?

welcome back to "early today." nelson mandela remains in critical condition in a south africa hospital. for the latest, dekeir simmons joins us from pretoria. >> reporter: good morning. you can see behind me members of the ancu, young people are singing and dancing in the streets celebrating nelson mandela. just before they were here we saw some of nelson mandela's family come out of the hospital and collect some of the flowers, the many flowers and goodwill messages that have been left outside the hospital. one of them said to the camera, she said, look, we know that -- how loved nelson mandela is, he is stable, but at the same time the president's office describing him as critical. you can see these young people coming by, singing and dancing, celebrating nelson mandela.

back to you. >> keir, thank you so much. edward snowden could spend weeks in legal limbo thanks to ecuador. the country is signaling it may deliberate slowly asylum application. a drug enforcement agent killed in colombia during an apparent robbery attempt was laid to rest on wednesday. the military court has overturned one of the most prominent murder convictions from the iraq war. sergeant lawrence hutchins iii served about half of his 11-year sentence for killing an iraqi civilian. judges agreed his rights were violated when he was kept in solitary confinement. texas executed their 500th prisoner since 1982. on the same day, governor rick perry calling the legislature into a special session. he'd like to reintroduce a strict abortion measure one day after a filibuster stalled that bill. the state senator who led that filibuster, wendy davis, thinks she is not ruling out a run for

governor. davis spoke for 11 hours tuesday night to prevent the bill from coming to a vote. nasa is keeping its eye on an enormous solar flare. it could have a big impact on earth. scientists say it could wipe out communications and electrical grids for up to a year, effectively sending us back to the 19th century. hope that doesn't happen. for your "first look" at business, we turn to cnbc's bertha coombs. >> stocks leapt wednesday even as the economy grew less than expected in the first quarter. in a bad news is good news interpretation, investors feel perhaps the fed may not be so quick now to end its stimulus program as was thought last week. and a deal in congress to keep student loan rates from doubling may be on the verge of collapse. senate majority leader harry reid says he will not support the bipartisan measure. and how much would you pay for

lunch with yahoo!'s ceo? bids in a charity auction are up to $95,000. final bids at charitybuzz.com are due at the end of the day. i'll take you to lunch but i don't know if i'll pay $5,000 to do that. >> i agree. collision course. from a $40 million nfl career to handcuffs and murder charges. things are looking grim for aaron hernandez. sports highlights from around the globe next.

nirchg patriots tight end aaron hernandez is behind bars charged with murdering a friend. >> hernandez is being charged in connection with the death of oden lloyd, a 27-year-old semi-pro football player who was found shot dead june 17th near hernandez's home. lloyd's relatives who were in court have said lloyd and hernandez were friends and that both were out together the night lloyd was murdered. a night out that prosecutors say led to an argument and lloyd being shot five times. >> black semi-automatic firearm -- >> reporter: within hours hernandez was released by the patriots. a statement on the team website reads words cannot express the

disappointment we feel knows one of our players was arrested as a result of this investigation. big upsets at wimbledon. first early exit, roger federer, the spoiler 116th ranked sergei. fed roar took the first set then lost three. wimbledon will be a little bit quieter. famous grunter and third seed maria sharapova got outgrunted by the 131st seat in straight sets. sharapova said the glass was slippery. there's no slow in missy franklin. she had two golds at the national championships. she set a u.s. open record to win the 200-meter backstroke and was 0.08 records shy of a world record. you got trust e issues? espn new york saying alex rodriguez says the team does not want him but want insurance money.

yankees might get 80% of his salary if he sits out. yankees general manager brian cashman meanwhile commenting on his f-bomb, saying he regrets the choice of words used yesterday and added, we want alex back. that's not an issue. the brewers aramis ramirez reached 2,000 hits and the home run into the cap of the relief pitcher. hats off to the cubs, they win 5-4. one, two, three, four, five amazing half court shots. the prize, season tickets for the sacramento kings. watch the right part of your screen. the jockey falls off your horse. downtown hottie keeps on running at the belmont track. comes in first but officially not listed as finishing the race but fun to watch. four of the five most powerful celebrities in the world are women, can you name them?

it's 86 in phoenix. 88 in phoenix, 86 in las vegas. you know it's going to be a hot day. and it certainly is. we do have heat advisories and warnings in areas across the southwest. temperatures today will be above 110. it is extremely hot. some relief showers in the northwest. 76 in seattle. tomorrow the sunshine is back, 83 for a high. 87 in portland. even medford, oregon, getting in on the heat. highs tomorrow should top out around 96 degrees. so even seattle's going to get

into the mid 80s tomorrow. >> they're loving those 80-degree temps. wedding dresses. liz taylor's first wedding gown went for auction wednesday, fetched $187,000. if you missed on the bidding, don't worry, she was married seven more times. that's a lot of money to be talked about. michael jackson's son prince telling -- taking the stand wednesday in the family's wrongful death lawsuit against aeg live. prince said he would see his father cry after phone conversations with aeg, sometimes saying "they're going to kill me." long-time engaged actors christian bell and zach shepherd were holding off on their wedding until the straight couple felt there was marriage equality for all. after wednesday's decision bell tweeted, will you marry me?

justin bieber's quarantined monkey will have a home spending the rest of hit days at a zoo in northern germany. "forbes" releaeasing its li of the most powerful celebrities. oprah winfrey reclaiming her crown as the moist poefl celebrity. i was teasing at the break about only one, four of the five were women, you were one of them of course. >> nobody would believe a word you were saying. >> this is only today. we hope it's just your first stop of the day today on nbc.

in the "new york times" dna buried 7,000 centuries is retrieved. researchers analyzed the genomes of horses thought to represent the last living wild horse population. in "the washington post," snowden voiced contempt for leakers in newly disclosed chat logs from 2009. the nsa contractor on the run from u.s. authorities for leaks appears to have had nothing but disdain for leakers in the past. chip staurs is on his way to new york after being released. a deal was reached overnight for starns to pay his workers severance packages. the supreme court will extend federal recognition of same-sex in the states where it is legal but the rules have no

direct effect on the constitutional amendments in the 29 states that limit marriage to heterosexual couples. more fallout from paula deen amid her admission of using a racial slur in the past. hours after an emotionally charged interview, walmart, home depot and caesar's dropping the celebrity chef. a cat in china has found a tour guide. a 7-year-old german shepherd gives the cat rides. they get strange looks. what's with the shades? >> in case enough people weren't looking. >> a cool dog with a cool cat, i guess. that hasn't deterred the friendship. the owner says they act more like siblings than enemies. >> smart cat. >> you see him hanging on. he enjoys the free ride. as was said earlier, that would be a cat, lazy. >> just hop on the horse or the dog that's doing all the work. >> then the dog gets on the horse and everybody gets a ride.

time for a look ahead. president obama and his family are in africa today. the first family is in senegal for the start of a week-long trip that also takes them to south africa and tanzania. james gandolfini will be laid to rest today after a wake wednesday in his new jersey hometown. the funeral for gandolfini will be held at st. john the divine in new york city this morning. >>. >> happy birthday to ross perot. he's 83. actor tobey maguire turns 38. fashion designer vera wang, 64 years old. later on the "today" show, reaction to the landmark supreme court decision on same-sex marriage. and live from beijing, a u.s. ceo speaks out after his angry workers release him from captivity in the factory he owns from china. keep it here for more news, weather and sports. thanks for watching "early today." have a good one.

we're keeping an eye on south africa where there are new details overnight on the health of ailing leader nelson mandela. the latest on his condition next. farm workers ready to strike in just a matter of days. we'll let you know what other bay area transit agencies are doing right now to try to keep the bay area moving in case they go through with the threat. we hear a lot about san jose's fight to bring the a's south, but new developments today could help keep the team right where it is. details next. right now nothing can stop us from giving you this beautiful shot, kind of blocked in there. maybe the light is not on there. we'll figure it all out today. the traffic flows smoothly early on this thursday, june 27. this is "today in the bay."